19 February 2012

Women in Film and Video's 10th Annual Screenwriting Competition

On March 1st- Women in Film & Video/New England (WIFV/NE) will begin accepting entries for our Tenth Annual Screenwriting Competition, sponsored by Su-City Pictures, Inktip, and Final Draft.

The WIFV/NE Screenwriting Competition aims to promote the work of women screenwriters and support the creation of worthy film roles for women. Entries must be authored or co-authored by a woman and/or feature a woman or women in prominent roles. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a detailed script analysis and consultation from award-winning screenwriter, Susan Kouguell, founder of Su-City Pictures. All three finalists will receive a screenwriting software package from Final Draft, and a 6-month online script placement service by Inktip.com

Former WIFVNE President Cheryl Eagan-Donovan will serve as this year’s competition judge. Cheryl was the WIFVNE Screenwriting Competition Chair for several years, and currently teaches screenwriting at Boston’s University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts. She has written, directed and produced two feature length documentaries, has written several narrative scripts, including adaptations, and has published articles about screenwriting and film in magazines and journals. Her debut film, All Kindsa Girls, screened at film festivals and art house theaters in London, Toronto and throughout the U.S., is featured in Paul Sherman’s book Big Screen Boston, and was short-listed for the PBS series POV. She recently received a grant from the Shakespeare Fellowship Foundation to support the production of her new film, Nothing is Truer than Truth, based on the book Shakespeare By Another Name. Cheryl serves on the Board of Directors of Next Door Theater in Winchester, MA and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University.

Susan Kouguell, award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, is the author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays!, a comprehensive guide to crafting winning characters with film analyses and screenwriting exercises, and The Savvy Screenwriter: How to Sell Your Screenplay (and Yourself) Without Selling Out! Recent publications include her monthly screenwriting column in NewEnglandFilm.com, a chapter in Now Write! Screenwriting: Exercises by Today’s Best Screenwriters, Teachers and Consultants and MovieMaker Magazine’s Complete Guide to Making Movies 2010. Kouguell teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University, and presents international seminars. As chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a motion picture consulting company founded in 1990, Kouguell works with over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, executives and studios worldwide. Recipient of many grants and fellowships, including the MacDowell Colony, Jerome Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Edward Albee Foundation, Kouguell’s short films are in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection and archives, and were included in the Whitney Museum’s Biennial. Kouguell worked with director Louis Malle on his film And the Pursuit of Happiness, was a story analyst and story editor for many studios, wrote voice-over narrations for Miramax and over a dozen feature assignments for independent companies.

Scripts must be authored or co-authored by a woman AND/OR must feature a woman (or women) in a prominent role

Scripts must be submitted online via Withoutabox.com:

Do NOT include author’s name in submitted script.

Do NOT include author’s name in the pdf script file name.

Screenplay titles ONLY.

Screenplay title MUST be included in submitted pdf script.

Sorry, no scripts can be returned.

For legal reasons, WIFV/NE can accept only original screenplays by copyright holder(s).

In 2009, the winning WIFV/NE screenplay was optioned shortly after being listed on Inktip. Headquartered in Los Angeles, InkTip is a screenplay facilitation company servicing the entertainment industry by providing screenplays and writers to producers and literary representatives in its network. InkTip confirms more than 150 script options and sales per year.

Final Draft is the number-one selling word processor specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics and stage plays. It combines powerful word processing with professional script formatting in one self-contained, easy-to-use package.